Hawking makes list for ‘face of £50 note’

Alan Turing, Professor Stephen Hawking and Ada Lovelace have all made an initial list of nominations to be the new face of the £50 note.

Bank of England Governor Mark Carney announced earlier this year the new polymer note will celebrate British achievement in science.

A longlist released yesterday also featured Rosalind Franklin, Dorothy Hodgkin and Frederick Sanger, as well as Magnus Pyke and Marie Stopes.

Margaret Thatcher is also on the list. She studied chemistry at university and worked as a chemist for food firm J Lyons before her political career.

The vast majority of those on the list are male.

People are being asked to make suggestions via the bank’s website of an eminent late scientist from fields such as biology, astronomy and medical research.

They need to be British, no longer living and not fictional characters.

Since the selection process was launched on 2 November, the bank has received a total of 174,112 nominations, but the names have not yet been considered by the Banknote Character Advisory Committee.

The public has until 14 December to nominate.